Sanitary butterfly valve with locking dust cap

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a sanitary butterfly valve for use primarily with liquid food applications which includes a valve body with seating means therein, a pivotally mounted seat disc which is made to move into and out of engagement with the seating means, and a combination locking and dust cap at the outlet port of the valve which protects against foreign particles entering the valve and locks the valve in its closed position. The valve is so designed to be assembled and dis-assembled in a matter of seconds.

United. States Patent 11 1 Mueller Oct. 23, 1973 SANITARY BUTTERFLYVALVE WITH LOCKING DUST CAP [75] lnventorz Paul Mueller, Springfield,Mo.

[73 Assignee: Paul Mueller Company, Springfield, Mo.

[22] Filed: Apr. 14, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 133,811

[52] US. CI.. 251/89, 251/306, 251/287,

, 137/613 51 1111. c1. Fl6k 35/02, F16k 51/00, F16k 1/22 [58] Field 61Search 137/316, 613, 614.06,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS v I 3,068,903 12/1962 Haenkyet al 137/385 X 1,477,808 12/1923 Costello 2,440,946 5/1948 Hansenl37/6l4.06 2,828,762 4/1958 Swank 137/385 3,314,444 4/1967 White 137/377Primary Examinerl-lenry T. Klinksiek Attorney-Rogers, Ezell, Eilers &Robbins [57] ABSTRACT This invention relates to a sanitary butterflyvalve for use primarily with liquid food applications which includes avalve body with seating means therein, a pivotally mounted seat discwhich ismade to move into and out of engagement with the seating means,and a combination locking and dust cap at the outlet port of the valvewhich protects against foreign particles entering the valve and locksthe valve in its closed position. The valve is so designed to beassembled and disassembled in amatter of seconds.

13 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates to sanitary valves for controlling the flow of liquid foods,such as, for example, syrup, wine, beer, eggs, oil, milk, etc. Valvesused for this purpose must, of course, be sanitaryjust as the containersin which the foods are kept, and therefore should be made from materialswhich lend themselves to cleanliness, easily assembled and dis-assembledfor cleaning and repair, and protected internally from foreign particlesthat might contaminate the food.

The butterfly valve of this invention includes a valve body with aseating means therein. A butterfly disc is pivotally mounted forrotationin and out of contact with the seating means to open and closethe valve. An operating handle has a hand-grip portion and a shaftportion extending through the valve body and the seat disc, and includespositive locking means to hold 'the disc in rotation with the'shaft andfor mounting the disc in pivotal movement in and out of contact with theseating means. A retaining pin or clip is provided at the lower end ofthe shaft to hold the shaft in its assembled position. With this design,the valve can be easily disassembled in only a few seconds by removingthe clip and pulling the handle shaft out of the valve body and disc,thus freeing the disc. No tools are required.

A combination locking and dust cap which is'easily mounted to the valveoutlet seals the internal parts of the valve against foreign particlesand contamination and also locks the valve in its closed position sothat it cannot be accidentally opened by operation of the handle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a plan view of one embodiment ofthe valve in this invention;

FIG. 2' is a view in section taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is'a view in partial section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2with the butterfly shown in its closed po sition by solid lines anditsopen position by dashed lines;

FIG. 4 is a view in partial section of another embodiment of the valveof this invention; and

FIG. 5 is a view taken along the line 5-5'of FIG. 4 without the lockingand dust cap and hex nut, and with the butterfly seat disc shown in itsclosed position by solid lines and its open position by dashed lines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 thereis shown the butterfly valve of the one embodiment of this invention.The valve 20 includes a hollow, cylindrical body 21 with a flanged nallythe valve body 21 has a cylindrical cavity 30 and a cylindrical cavity31 smaller in diameter than the cavity 30. The wall of the cavity istapered toward the wall of the cavity 31 to form a valve seat 33. Atapproximately the position of the seat 33 are diametrically alignedholes 35 and 36 in the body wall to receive an operating handle 37 to bedescribed, the hole 35 being somewhat larger than the hole 36.

A seat disc 40 has a disc portion 41 with an O-ring seal 42 seatedaround its perimeter, and a forwardly protruding portion 43 of smallerdiameter than the disc portion 41. The protrusion 43 has a flat end 44and a diametrical bore 45 therethrough. The bore 45 is positioned suchthat its wall is contiguous with the front wall of the disc portion 41,and when in alignment with the holes 35 and 36 in the valve body 21 byinsertion of the operating handle 37, the seat disc 40 pivots about thebore axis in and out of sealing relation with the seat 33 as best shownin FIG. 3.

The handle 37 is shown to be L-shaped, although any other suitable shapesuch as a T could be used. The handle 37 has a vertical shaft with anupper portion 51 of a diameter to mate with the hole 35 and a lowerportion 52 of a smaller diameter to mate with the hole .36. A peripheralgroove 55 holds an O-ring 56 to form the lower portion 52 and the hole36. The shaft 50 is round except at the lower end of the upper portion51 which has a flat side 60 which rests against the front surface of thedisc portion 41 to lock the seat disc 40 into rotational engagement withthe shaft 50. The

.upper and lower portions of the shaft 50 join in'a taper at 61 whichtends to force the flat surface 60 firmly against the front surface ofthe disc portion 41 thus providing a very positive, no slack, operationof the valve.

A pin 62 extends normal to the shaft 50 and rides in an externalfan-shaped recess 63 in the valve body. The pin 62 acts as a stopagainst the sides 64 and 65 of the recess 63 to limit the pivotalmovement of the seat disc 41. With the sides 64 and 65 formed at ninetydegrees, turning the handle 37 between its stops, pivots the seat discbetween the seating position shown by solid lines and the open positionshown by dashes lines in FIG. 3.

- An aperture 69 extends through the bottom end of the shaft 50 justbelow the outer surface of the valve body to receive a retaining pin 70.

A combination locking and dust cap 72 is mounted at the outlet of thevalve to protect against foreign particles entering the valve andpossibly contaminating the food, and includes a front ring surface 73and an annular shoulder 74 outwardly extending therefrom. The shoulder74 has an outer surface 75 of a diameter approximately equal to that ofthe inside diameter of the threads 25. A bevelled'surface 76 extendsrearwardly from the outer edge 75 to form a mating surface with' that ofthe bevelled end'27 of the valve body. The back of the cap 72 is formedin a rearwardly protruding cy'- Iindrical portion 78 having a flat end79 which mates with the flat end 44 of the seat disc 40 when in itsseating position and when the cap 72 is mounted in place to effectivelylock the disc 40 in its seating position. An

internally threaded nut 81 has an inwardly extending annular shoulder 82which mates with the annular shown as a hex nut, any suitable designcould be used, although it is preferred that some gripping means beprovided on the external surface of the nut so that it may be easilytightened and removed by hand.

ASSEMBLY AND DIS-ASSEMBLY To assemble the valve of this embodiment, theseat disc 40 is placed in its open position with the O-ring 42 restingagainst the tapered surface 33 and with the bore 45 aligned with theholes 35 and 36. With the handle 37 held with its flat surface 60 on theshaft 50 facing the disc portion 41, the shaft 50 is inserted downthrough the hole 35, bore 45, and hole 36 so that the flat surface 60rests snugly against the front surface of the disc portion 41 and untilthe pin 62 lies in the recess 63 of the valve body. The retaining clip70 is then inserted into the aperture 69 to hold the shaft 50 in place.The valve is then operated by simply turning the handle 37 between itsstops.

The combination locking and dust cap is installed by inserting its rearportion 78 into the front end of the valve body so that the flat end 79rests against the flat end 44 of the disc 40 and its bevelled surface 76rests against the bevelled surface 27 of the valve body. The hex nut 81is then screwed onto the end of the valve body to hold the cap 72tightly in place.

The unit is dis-assembled such as for cleaning or repair by simplyremoving the nut and dust cap, rotating the disc 40 to the openposition, removing the retaining clip 70, and pulling the shaft 50 ofthe handle 37 out of the holes 35 and 36 and the bore 45 to free theseat disc 40. Hence, with the O-rings in place, assembly anddis-assembly takes only a few seconds and no tools are required.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown another embodiment of the invention.Because this embodiment is so very similar to that first described, onlymaterial differences will be noted and described. Hence, there is showna valve 90 having a valve body 91 similar to and performing the samefunction as the valve body 21, a seat disc 92 similar to and performingthe same function as the seat disc 40, a handle 93 similar to andperforming the same function as the handle 37, a combination locking anddust cap 94 similar to and performing the same function as the cap 72,and a nut 95 similar to and performing the same function as the nut 81.The only material differences in this embodiment are in the means forlimiting pivotal movement of the disc, and the means for seating thecombination locking and dust cap at the outlet of the valve body.

In place of the pin 62 and fan-shaped recess 63 of the first describedembodiment, this embodiment uses a pin 100 attached to the disc 92 nearits periphery on an axis at 90 to its pivotal axis. The pin 100 extendstoward the valve inlet and is on the side of the disc 92 that movestoward the valve inlet when the disc is pivoted from its closed to itsopen position, and its length is such that when the disc is in its openposition, the end of the pin strikes the inside wall of the valve bodyto limit pivotal movement to approximately 90 as illustrated by dashedlines in FIG. 5.

Instead of the bevelled surfaces 27 and 76 of the first describedembodiment, the valve outlet of this embodiment has a flat portion 102joined by a steeply tapered rearwardly extending annular surface 103formed at its base in a shoulder 104. The shoulder 104 contains anannular groove 105 for receiving a ring seal 106 of any suitablecross-section such as that shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The cap 94 includes aring portion 110 formed with an outwardly extending annular shoulder 111with an annular surface 112 extending rearwardly therefrom and taperedsubstantially parallel to the tapered surface 103 and formed at its backend in an annular shoulder 113 which rests against the seal 106. The nuthas an inwardly extending annular shoulder 115 which mates with theshoulder 111 of the cap 94 to force the shoulder 113 against the seal106 and the flat surface 79 of the cap 94 against the flat surface 44 ofthe disc 92.

Assembly and dis-assembly of the valve of this embodiment issubstantially identical to the first described embodiment.

Materials used for the various parts of the valves of this inventionshould be those most suited for sanitary purposes. Therefore, stainlesssteel is preferred for the valve body, handle, seat disc, retaining clipand pin, while plastic can be used for the combination locking and dustcap and nut, although other suitable materials could also be used.

Therefore, there has been described a novel butterfly valve which can beassembled and dis-assembled in only a few seconds while providingpositive seating, and includes a combination locking and dust cap whichprevents accidental opening of the valve and seals its internal partsagainst foreign particles.

Various changes and modifications may be made within the invention aswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes andmodifications are within the scope and teaching of this invention asdefined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A sanitary valve comprising a valve body having an inlet port and anoutlet port, annular seating means within the valve body, a removabledust cap, a seat disc mounted within the valve body for pivotal movementinto and out of seating relation with the seating means to close andopen the valve when the dust cap is removed, means externally operablefor pivoting the seat disc between its closed and opened positions, anda dust cap mounted at one of the valve ports, the dust cap includingmeans for locking the seat disc in its closed position and for providingan air-tight seal at the valve port for preventing foreign particlesfrom entering the valve through the port.

2. The sanitary valve of claim 1 wherein the seat disc and the dust caphave surfaces which contact when the seat disc is closed and the dustcap is mounted in place to lock the seat disc in its closed position andprevent operation of the pivotal means.

3. The sanitary valve of claim 1 wherein the dust cap and valve portwhere the cap is mounted have mating bevelled surfaces and includingmeans for holding the bevelled surface of the dust cap tightly againstthe bev-.

elled surface of the port to provide the seal for preventing foreignparticles from entering the valve through the port.

4. The sanitary valve of claim 1 wherein the dust cap and valve portwhere the cap is mounted, have mating annular shoulders, one of whichshoulders has an annular recess, a sealing ring mounted in the recess,and means for holding the other annular shoulder tightly against thesealing ring to provide the seal for preventing foreign particles fromentering the valve through the port.

5. The sanitary valve of claim 1 wherein the seat disc has a portionwith a diametrical bore therethrough, the valve body havingdiametrically aligned holes that are also aligned with the bore in theseat disc when the seat disc is in closed contact with the sealingmeans, a shaft extending through the holes and the bore means keying theseat disc into locking rotational engagement with the shaft, and meansattached to said shaft for preventing movement thereof along itslongitudinal axis within the holes and bore.

6. The sanitary valve of claim 5 wherein the seat disc includes a discportion having a peripheral seal thereon for engagement with the seatingmeans, and a protrusion of a smaller diameter than and normal to thedisc portion, the bore being in the protrusion substantially adjacentthe wall of the disc portion, one of the holes being larger than theother, the shaft having a first portion and a second portion of smallerdiameter than the first portion, the first portion extending through thelarger hole, and the second portion extending through the bore and thesmaller hole, the first portion having a flat surface on one side nextto the second portion which engages the wall of the disc portion. tofirmly lock the seat disc in rotational engagement with the shaft.

7. The sanitary valve of claim 5 including means operative ly couplingthe seat disc and the valve body for limiting the rotation of the seatdisc between its closed position and a predetermined open position.

8, The sanitary valve of claim 7 wherein the last named means includes afan-shaped recess in the outer surface of the valve body adjacent theshaft, and a pin extending normal to the shaft and which moves withinthe fan-shaped recess.

9. The sanitary valve of claim 7 wherein the last named means includes apin extending substantially normal from the seat disc, near itsperiphery, which pin is of a prescribed length to engage the internalsurface of the valve body when the valve is opened a predeterminedamount to limit rotation ofthe seat disc to its open position.

.10. The sanitary valve of claim 5 including sealing means between thevalve body and the shaft.

11. A sanitary valve comprising a valve body having an inlet port and anoutlet port, annular seating means within the valve body, a seat dischaving a peripheral seal that mates with the seating means and a portionhaving a diametrical bore therethrough, the valve body havingdiametrically aligned holes that are also aligned with the bore in theseat disc when the seat disc is in closed contact with the sealingmeans, an externally operable shaft extending through the holes and thebore including means for keying the seat disc into locking rotationalengagement with the shaft, means attached to the shaft for holding theshaft in the holes and bore whereby removal of the shaft releases theseat disc, means external of said valve body carried by the shaft forrotation thereof, and a dust cap mounted at an outlet of the valveincluding means for locking the seat disc in its closed position and forproviding an air-tight seal at the valve outlet to prevent foreignparticles from entering the valve therethrough.

12. A sanitary valve which can be assembled and disassembled quickly andeasily for cleaning and repair without the use of tools and comprising avalve body having entrance and exit ports, annular seating means withinthe valve body, a seat disc of a size permitting passage thereof throughone of said ports and having a peripheral seal that mates with theseating means, the seat disc including a portion having a diametricalbore therethrough, the valve body having diametrically aligned holesthat are also aligned with the bore in the seat disc, and a rotatable,externally operable removable shaft extending through the holes and thebore and adapted to lockingly engage the bore to prevent rotation of theseat disc with respect to the shaft, externally disengageable meansconnected to said shaft for prevention of longitudinal movement thereofwithin the holes and bore, and a dust cap mounted at an outlet of thevalve and including locking means extending inwardly of the valve forcontacting the seat disc to lock the same in its closed position andincluding means for providing an air-tight seal at the valve outlet toprevent foreign particles from entering the valve therethrough.

13. The sanitary valve of claim 12 wherein end portions of said shaftextend externally of said valve body, one end carrying a handle formanual rotation of the shaft and associated seat disc, and the other endhaving attached thereto said externally disengageable means forpreventing longitudinal movement of the shaft within the holes and bore.

1. A sanitary valve comprising a valve body having an inlet port and anoutlet port, annular seating means within the valve body, a removabledust cap, a seat disc mounted within the valve body for pivotal movementinto and out of seating relation with the seating means to close andopen the valve when the dust cap is removed, means externally operablefor pivoting the seat disc between its closed and opened positions, anda dust cap mounted at one of the valve ports, the dust cap includingmeans for locking the seat disc in its closed position and for providingan air-tight seal at the valve port for preventing foreign particlesfrom entering the valve through the port.
 2. The sanitary valve of claim1 wherein the seat disc and the dust cap have surfaces which contactwhen the seat disc is closed and the dust cap is mounted in place tolock the seat disc in its closed position and prevent operation of thepivotal means.
 3. The sanitary valve of claim 1 wherein the dust cap andvalve port where the cap is mounted have mating bevelled surfaces andincluding means for holding the bevelled surface of the dust cap tightlyagainst the bevelled surface of the port to provide the seal forpreventing foreign particles from entering the valve through the port.4. The sanitary valve of claim 1 wherein the dust cap and valve portwhere the cap is mounted, have mating annular shoulders, one of whichshoulders has an annular recess, a sealing ring mounted in the recess,and means for holding the other annular shoulder tightly against thesealing ring to provide the seal for preventing foreign particles fromentering the valve through the port.
 5. The sanitary valve of claim 1wherein the seat disc has a portion with a diametrical boretherethrough, the valve body having diametrically aligned holes that arealso aligned with the bore in the seat disc when the seat disc is inclosed contact with the sealing means, a shaft extending through theholes and the bore means keying the seat disc into locking rotationalengagement with the shaft, and means attached to said shaft forpreventing movement thereof along its longitudinal axis within the holesand bore.
 6. The sanitary valve of claim 5 wherein the seat discincludes a disc portion having a peripheral seal thereon for engagementwith the seating means, and a protrusion of a smaller diameter than andnormal to the disc portion, the bore being in the protrusionsubstantially adjacent the wall of the disc portion, one of the holesbeing larger than the other, the shaft having a first portion and asecond portion of smaller diameter than the first portion, the firstportion extending through the larger hole, and the second portionextending through the bore and the smaller hole, the first portionhaving a flat surface on one side next to the second portion whichengages the wall of the disc portion to firmly lock the seat disc inrotational engagement with the shaft.
 7. The sanitary valve of claim 5including means operatively coupling the seat disc and the valve bodyfor limiting tHe rotation of the seat disc between its closed positionand a predetermined open position.
 8. The sanitary valve of claim 7wherein the last named means includes a fan-shaped recess in the outersurface of the valve body adjacent the shaft, and a pin extending normalto the shaft and which moves within the fan-shaped recess.
 9. Thesanitary valve of claim 7 wherein the last named means includes a pinextending substantially normal from the seat disc, near its periphery,which pin is of a prescribed length to engage the internal surface ofthe valve body when the valve is opened a predetermined amount to limitrotation of the seat disc to its open position.
 10. The sanitary valveof claim 5 including sealing means between the valve body and the shaft.11. A sanitary valve comprising a valve body having an inlet port and anoutlet port, annular seating means within the valve body, a seat dischaving a peripheral seal that mates with the seating means and a portionhaving a diametrical bore therethrough, the valve body havingdiametrically aligned holes that are also aligned with the bore in theseat disc when the seat disc is in closed contact with the sealingmeans, an externally operable shaft extending through the holes and thebore including means for keying the seat disc into locking rotationalengagement with the shaft, means attached to the shaft for holding theshaft in the holes and bore whereby removal of the shaft releases theseat disc, means external of said valve body carried by the shaft forrotation thereof, and a dust cap mounted at an outlet of the valveincluding means for locking the seat disc in its closed position and forproviding an air-tight seal at the valve outlet to prevent foreignparticles from entering the valve therethrough.
 12. A sanitary valvewhich can be assembled and dis-assembled quickly and easily for cleaningand repair without the use of tools and comprising a valve body havingentrance and exit ports, annular seating means within the valve body, aseat disc of a size permitting passage thereof through one of said portsand having a peripheral seal that mates with the seating means, the seatdisc including a portion having a diametrical bore therethrough, thevalve body having diametrically aligned holes that are also aligned withthe bore in the seat disc, and a rotatable, externally operableremovable shaft extending through the holes and the bore and adapted tolockingly engage the bore to prevent rotation of the seat disc withrespect to the shaft, externally disengageable means connected to saidshaft for prevention of longitudinal movement thereof within the holesand bore, and a dust cap mounted at an outlet of the valve and includinglocking means extending inwardly of the valve for contacting the seatdisc to lock the same in its closed position and including means forproviding an air-tight seal at the valve outlet to prevent foreignparticles from entering the valve therethrough.
 13. The sanitary valveof claim 12 wherein end portions of said shaft extend externally of saidvalve body, one end carrying a handle for manual rotation of the shaftand associated seat disc, and the other end having attached thereto saidexternally disengageable means for preventing longitudinal movement ofthe shaft within the holes and bore.